Luxembourg, 20/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - After much shilly-shallying over the draft “Rome III” regulation in Luxembourg on Thursday, with no agreement reached (see EUROPE 9410), the presidency, through the firm hand of German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, has managed to have several important arrangements on regulations relating to maintenance and contractual requirements (“Rome I”) and European contract law adopted. With regard firstly to the Council regulation on competence, applicable law, recognition and execution of decisions and cooperation on maintenance requirements, the presidency managed to have agreed the principle of easier cross-border cover of maintenance claims within the EU, notably through agreement on four points: - the removal of the “exequatur” in decisions on maintenance claims; - the organisation of a system of central authorities to help citizens recover their maintenance allowances; - member states will be able to continue to conclude bilateral agreements with third parties, without injuring Community competences: it will fall to the Commission, then, to prepare the legal framework for such agreements; - finally, the text applies only to cross-border matters, despite the Commission's wish for a wider scope. On the draft “Rome I” regulation, the minister's “bulldozer” method also worked, a number of commentators have pointed out. “The minister managed to get a guideline text adopted, which she presented as an interim agreement. In fact, ministers ratified the text,” said a diplomatic source. On this text, ministers adopted 15 of the proposal's 26 articles. Very important articles were adopted from parties' freedom of choice (art. 3) to labour law (art. 6). The remaining arrangements will be considered in June (transport, financial markets etc.). On European contract law, the presidency similarly had several points adopted, including the principle to create a binding common reference framework, which could ultimately become a European civil code project.
On Thursday, European justice ministers voted to strengthen the European civil and commercial Judicial Network (EJN). The EJN, which was set up in 2002, provides information on important regulations in civil law and civil procedure in the various member states, and on the legal system and competences. Ministers, however, were keen to point out that within the framework of its activities, particularly monitoring the effective and concrete application of community acts, the Network must not interfere in the decision-making process established by the Treaty.
With regard to the “Rome II” regulation, ministers decided not to approve the package of amendments adopted by the European Parliament in second reading. The Rome II conciliation process is due to close on 15 May. Finally, the Council reached two political agreements on funding programmes in the area of fundamental rights and justice for 2007-2013. The first agreement is on the amended proposal setting up the “Drugs prevention and information” specific programme (€21.35 million). The second is related to the draft decision setting up the “Civil justice” specific programme (€109.3 million). (bc)